Philly drivers have it the worst compared to other cities

Philadelphia has a dubious distinction when it comes to commuting. The city placed last in a survey of 100 major cities.

A new report posted by wallethub.com found Philly is among the worst cities when it comes to unpleasant driving conditions. The website’s Jill Gonzalez says Philadelphia has a lot of bad things going for it when it comes to driving.

“We looked at 100 cities here in terms of what it’s like to be a driver there, and Philadelphia ranked 100th out of 100 in terms of how good it is to drive around there,” Gonzalez said. “So it ranked in last place.”

The report looked at a wide variety of factors including the cost of owning and maintaining a car in the area, as well as traffic and infrastructure safety.

“Philly could really use improvement across the board. But, you know, when we’re just looking at things like annual hours spent in congestion, Philadelphia is the third highest in the country, only behind New York and Chicago,” Gonzalez said.

“When we’re looking at parking rates, Philadelphia is also one of the highest in the country. And it’s not just, you know, a little bit higher in Philly. It’s like 40 times higher just to park in Philly than it is in, say, San Jose or Anaheim or St. Petersburg. So this is you know, we’re seeing huge differences here.”

Crashes are also high in the city. Philly drivers are about three times more likely to be involved in a crash than the national average.

“When you’re talking about accident likelihood that then really snowballs into some of these other categories like the cost of ownership and maintenance. Auto maintenance costs are also a little bit higher in Philly. Car insurance premiums are higher in Philly. So all of these things add up.”

The survey also found that those driving in the city spend an average of 40 hours stuck in traffic annually. That results in costing drivers an extra $564 a year due to congestion.